SCP Survival

Best Survival Gear and Supplies

Reviewed: Best Indoor Rocket Stove [Deadwood Stove]

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Deadwood Indoor Rocket Stove

After viewing many videos on YouTube, I decided to purchase the Deadwood Stove. Seemed like the best value for the money. And I can say that I am not disappointed! It arrived promptly and I was totally impressed with the quality, construction and good leather gloves that were included.

I like these stoves so much, that now I even have two Deadwood Stoves! These are, to my mind, mini-wood stoves that are so well built they will be passed down for generations.

I’m old and disabled, so weight is a concern for me. The Deadwood Stove is 18 lbs. Not light, but for the quality of construction it is made for durability—5 year warranty. This is a mini-woodstove–I’m guessing 50 years plus. The Deadwood Stove is something you can pass onto the kids. This makes the $250 I spent on my gas grill look like money ill-spent as that, even though it is stainless steel, is already rusting (1 year old!).

6 Month Update on The Deadwood

I’ve had my Deadwood Stove for about six months now. I’m thrilled! Here are a few of the high notes:

  • With dry sticks and pinecones it boils a quart of water within 10 minutes.
  • I keep one (Yes, I actually have two now!) on top of a table on the patio so I don’t have to bend over.
  • It has removable legs, so it is perfect on a tabletop.
  • The legs have a slight adjustability
  • Roasted marshmallows within three minutes!
  • You can grill a steak (or tinfoil anything) to perfection directly on top of the built-in grill just by adjusting how many sticks you feed into the front of the stove.
  • Wind blowing the wrong way? Just turn it! Works best facing the sticks into the wind—no smoke!

I put wood chips in a tin foil pan in my propane grill to get that delicious wood smoke flavor… Turn the Deadwood Stove slightly angled to the wind and you don’t need to add smoke! Actually, I’ve been contemplating how I can use a Deadwood to create a smoker. I’m sure it can be done; I just have to figure it out.

With two Deadwood Stoves you can pretty much do a meal. My two Deadwood Stoves have almost made the propane grill obsolete! And between we use them camping and the kids also using them, the savings in not buying firewood at state parks has already paid for both in one summer!

Deadwood Stove Used Indoors
Deadwood Stove being used with alcohol-soaked cotton balls inside of a can

Only problem… The kids! Expect that they will borrow one for every camping expedition. The son even uses it on his pontoon boat! And my husband takes it with him on his Harley when camping!  And if two of the kids go camping at one time, well, you are sans your Deadwood Stoves. Not good if you get the grandkids.

My son even sidled up and asked who was going to inherit the Deadwood’s (He already has dibs on the 12 gauge and .38)! Not cheap, but they are definitely worth the money.

Can You Use The Deadwood As an Indoor Rocket Stove?

With the bitter cold winter we have had this year and the electricity going on and off, I got to thinking about the Deadwood for interior cooking as well. Sorry, but I am not going to feed sticks into a rocket stove outside to cook when it is -20 with wind chills of -50.

It IS Minnesota!

WOW, am I impressed! For cooking all I did was clean out a spaghetti sauce can, tear off the label, stick it upside down inside the Deadwood for height, then I took a cleaned soup can with label torn off, put 10 cotton balls in it, poured maybe a half a cup of rubbing alcohol over that, let it soak-in good for about 15 minutes, lit it with a BBQ lighter and I had water too hot to touch with steam rising within 5 minutes!

Plenty good enough to cook on!

Deadwood used with a simple candle

The Deadwood cooked okay with just a common candle too. But I think that a three wick survival candle would work a lot better. I also tried putting one of those pocket stoves in it with a fuel tablet and that worked great!

The legs on the Deadwood are positioned to make the stove easy to cook on just sitting on a chair. Remove the legs and you have a counter top or table top stove where you can easily stand and cook.

Below the grate the Deadwood is a bit less than 5”x5” , so Sterno fuel, camp heat, survival candles, fuel tablets, nearly any kind of solid camping fuel, can be used with it when you are indoors (and of course sticks for outside).

The only thing you have to be careful of if you are cooking indoors, is not to put too big of a pot on it that snuffs out the fire. And that may not be a problem because it can draw oxygen from below it also.

This is a very versatile, indoor-capable rocket stove!

Deadwood Is Also Awesome for Outdoor Cooking

We like to grill on the back deck. I like my propane grill, but it doesn’t have a burner. And the more I grill, the more I would like an extra burner for boiling corn-on-the-cob, sautéing mushrooms and onions, whatever.

The grandkids come over and want to make s’mores. Even though I have a fire ring down by the creek it is a chore to start up a campfire for 10 minutes of roasted marshmallows and then they are off to something else.

We have lots of tree–maple, birch and various spruce trees. We have branches come down in every storm and a lifetime supply of pine cones! So I have been looking at rocket stoves using biomass (sticks and pine cones), for perhaps two years now. Weighing the pros and cons and trying to decide what I really want from it.

Did I say money was tight? Everything I purchase has to work for multiple purposes.

Awesome Stove for Emergencies, Grilling, or Camping

If the power goes out and no natural gas is available, how am I going to cook? The propane grill will only work for so long and only for so much, so the Deadwood could come in handy there.

But what if nothing ever happens? How can I use a rocket stove to justify the purchase? I NEED at least one extra burner on the deck near the grill. I could satisfy the grandkids with their s’mores and hotdogs without creating a bonfire, and the kids could gather the twigs needed to fire it—yard cleanup.

It would definitely be handy for our camping excursions and would save us money by not having to buy firewood at the site (Minnesota is currently under a ban for unauthorized firewood being brought into parks due to an emerald ash borer infestation threat). And…. the kids could borrow it.

Bug Out Cart vs Bug Out Bag

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Bug Out Cart

I am not ashamed to say that I am 63 years old. I have been a prepping since I have been 17 years old. This is a long time before “Prepping” was fashionable.  I was in the U.S. Military, Law Enforcement and worked for a number of years as an E.M.T.

Until two (2) years ago, my bug out bag was a large back pack loaded with everything I thought would be useful in case I needed to bug out in an emergency. My bug out back pack weighed a little more than 74 pounds. Then I had a series of medical emergencies that changed everything.

I had a heart attack and now have a heart condition called “A. Fib.” About six (6) months after that I fell and blew out my entire left shoulder. I now have more screws, pins and plates in my left shoulder than I have in my tool box. The strength and range of motion, in my left shoulder, is greatly reduced.

I tried to put on my bug out bag and learned quickly that it was NOT going to happen. Also I doubt that I could carry it very far.

I then tried a large black duffle bag. When I placed all of the gear that I had in my Bug Out back pack in the black duffel bag, I could not lift it and carry it for very long. I had to find another solution.

Rolling Bug Out Bag on Wheels

Inception of the Rolling”Bug Out Cart” Idea

One day, I went to pick up a friend of mine at the airport. While waiting for him to arrive I observed the solution to my dilemma, a large, wheeled, soft sided piece of luggage. I could put whatever I wanted in the piece of luggage, no matter what the weight. I could then wheel it to my truck and put it in the bed of my truck for transport. If I had to evacuate by foot, for whatever reason, or abandon my truck, I could pull it on its wheels wherever I needed to go.

I have purposely not hung anything on the outside of the roller bug out bag so it looks just like a piece of luggage and not a bug out bag. This is very important so you do not make yourself more of target than you have to. What is nice is that I have even placed my M-4 rifle, disassembled in two (2) pieces, upper and lower halves and the ammo and magazines for it, in this wheeled bag. I can walk down the street pulling it and I look like a tourist.

So now I have everything that I would normally have in a bug out backpack plus extra firepower.

Other Bug Out Bag Ideas

Upon seeing this idea, many of the commenters to the original article I wrote have given some great ideas on other options to utilize. Here are some of them:

My$30 Shopping Cart Turned Survival Cart

Here’s what I was thinking: One of the most important things that you should do during an actual Bug Out, should you be unfortunate to have to leave on foot for whatever reason, is NOT to stand out. You should blend in with the other people that are also leaving.

You should become one of the invisible people in our society.

If you plan on dressing in your BDUs and looking like G.I. Joe, pulling an expensive cart with a lot of items that other people need and/or want; you are making yourself a BIG target. You are going to stand out. You will even have the police stopping you and checking you out.

As far as what to wear if you have to Bug Out on foot. Just look around at the homeless people in your area. What do they wear? This is how you want to dress. You DO NOT want to stand out.

Shopping Cart For Bugging Out
I found this metal grocery cart on e-bay for $30.00 (and yes, I know there are other ways of obtaining a grocery cart). 

What type of reliable cart should you push/pull if you cannot get out in some type of vehicle? What type of cart do the homeless people use in your area?

Here in New Orleans, the only type of cart that I see the invisible, homeless, people use is the one that “Patriot One” suggests. The grocery cart!

The grocery cart is very durable. It can carry a lot of weight. You can tie and/or hang things from the sides of the grocery cart. You are pushing the grocery cart so your property is in front of you. If you pull some type of a cart, the items that you’re carrying in it are in back of you. That makes those items easier to steal without you noticing it. Also, if something falls out of the cart that you are pulling, you will probably not realize that it is missing for a while.

Another advantage that the grocery cart has is that you can put some of your weight on the handle to help steady yourself in case you have bad knees or if you need assistance in walking. Think of when you go to the grocery store!

When you think about packing whatever you decide to take with you, try dividing up your food, water, clothes, etc. into numerous bundles of equal size and then placing those bundles in plastic trash bags in the grocery cart. By doing so those small bundles become more manageable and pack easier.

In addition, by placing them in plastic trash bags your items will stay dryer if it should rain. The plastic bags also keep the dust in the air off of the items that you have packed. Also people watching you cannot tell what you are transporting. If someone should run up to your cart and grab one of your bags and run away, you have not lost everything. Another advantage to using the plastic garbage bags is that you can reuse those bags numerous other ways, if need be.

You can even secure a pistol holster into the child’s seat area of the grocery cart. Then place some lightweight object over the handgun to conceal it. Your handgun would be almost immediately accessible if you need it, and always in sight.

The one drawback of the grocery cart is the same one that the roller suitcase has. It is not built to go off of the street or sidewalk. However, how many of you senior citizens will be going deep into the woods? Or, would you just be trying to get out of whatever major city you are in, any way you can.

The larger pull carts, such as the deer cart or garden wagon, are great ideas and maybe the answer for you. But if you are a senior citizen, like me, with bad knees and a heart problem and decide you have to attempt to walk out of a TEOTWAWKI situation, a grocery cart seems more the ideal solution to my problem. How far will I get? I do not know but at least it gives me an option other than Bugging In!

I must admit that I do like the yard cart. If you have small children or grandchildren, the yard cart would be something to consider. You could place two small children and the items need to take care of them in the yard cart. This beats hand carrying them in your arms. In addition, I think the yard cart would be easier to go off road and possibly take into the woods. If you decide that the garden cart is right for you, be sure to take a can of “Fix A Flat” and a bicycle air pump. These carts have inflatable tires. Again, remember “Murphy’s Law”!

A question came up that you should not plan on leaving wherever you are on foot. My thinking on this is just another option. You should ALWAYS keep all of your options open. Besides, if you are planning on using a car, motorcycle, or ANY other type of gasoline or diesel motor vehicle in a major prolonged national disaster, you are going to have a problem. Gasoline and diesel fuel are a finite resource. In other words, sooner or later you are going to run out of whatever fuel that is required to run your motor vehicle. So, some type of wheeled cart should be a requirement in you Bug Out plans.

Contributed by: The Coach

2 Considerations for Tornado Preparedness

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Given the horrific tornadoes that devastated Washington, IL and killed 8 people, I thought a post on tornado preparedness would be appropriate.

I’m thinking that we all know where the safest place is in our homes to go in case of a tornado – basement, under the stairs, in the center of the home in a small room like the bathroom, etc.

But here are two things that most people do not consider:

1. You are trapped in your tornado shelter by debris for 3 days – this actually happened to a lady last year.

2. You’re on the road in your vehicle when you encounter a tornado, what do you do (assume that you can’t out run it and there is no nearby home where you can take shelter)?

  • Do you drive into a grove of trees for shelter?
  • Stop, check your seat belt and just hang onto the steering wheel?
  • Exit your vehicle and lie down in the lowest ditch you can reach?
  • Try to find an overpass, exit your vehicle and crawl up under it?
  • Say a prayer, step on the gas and try to get through it?

7 Wilderness Survival Tools To Keep You Alive

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Out in the wilderness, your wits aren’t enough to keep you alive. Nature can be harsh and unforgiving- that’s why you need everything from rope to solar fire starter survival tools if you’re going to make it back in one piece.  Here’s a few other tools that will help you along the way. Duct Tape - Survival Tools

1. The Infamous Duct Tape

Duct tape has a million practical uses–several of them involving outdoor survival. Just as an example, you can fix a tear in your tent, fix your sleeping bag, a busted water bottle, tears in your clothing, and even repair a broken fishing pole. You can even use it as a band aid for cuts, in a medical emergency. Rope - Survival Tools

2. Rope

Similar to duct tape, rope is a tool that has several different uses, most of which apply to wilderness survival. With a rope, you can tie down a tent, tie down objects, use it to pull heavy objects, get up and down the side of a cliff, or even make a ladder. Duct Tape - Survival Tools

3. Knife

A knife is perhaps one of the most important and vital tools you can have at your disposal, if you find yourself stuck in the wilderness. A knife can be used as a digging tool, a weapon, in hunting, a hammer, a stake, and it can also be used to help construct shelter on the fly. Map and Compass - Survival Tools

4. Compass and Map

When you’re dealing with outdoor environments that can be unfamiliar, you’re going to need a reliable compass and map (along with the knowledge of how to use them) if you plan on surviving. Using a map and compass is an essential skill if you have a pre-designed course, that you want to take in the wilderness. Lost proofing is more about awareness of your surroundings, but when you have certain places you want to go and things you want to see, then knowing how to use a map can be really important. Solar Fire Starter - Survival Tools

5. Solar Fire Starter

If you’re going to be outside for longer than a single night, you’re going to need a proper tool that will allow you to quickly and easily get a fire started. Solar fire starter survival tools are extremely helpful for when you’re either in an area where kindling isn’t readily available, or if you find yourself in a damp area where branches and other sources of wood can’t easily catch fire through friction. Head Lamp - Survival Tools

6. Head Lamp

Has navigating at night ever been a hassle? What about reading a map in the dark? You’ve got your flashlight in one hand and you’re trying to do everything else with the other hand. Or you’ve had to enlist a friend to hold your light, while you do the work and that light is never quite pointed where you want it. Well, there’s a solution for that problem. It’s a headlamp. Don’t go out in the wilderness without one! Water Filter - Survival Tools

7. Portable Water Filter

The portable survival water purifier helps campers or backpackers use whatever water source they can find and turn it into drinkable water. To have a trusted water source, you must carry the water with you or have a portable water purifier, which cleans any water, include sea and stagnant water, in just a few minutes. This way a person does not need to carry heavy water bottles, especially when they are in the wilderness for several days.

Why You Should Love The Humble P-38 Can Opener

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I have had a very frustrating last couple of weeks with can openers. My “good” $10 hand held, comfortable to operate, can opener from Wally World lasted less than 2 years – whatever happened to quality?

Right in the middle of opening a can the gears stripped. Fine, I’m a prepper, I have another little metal hand held can opener.

p38 can opener for preppers and survival Well, that lasted about 3 days and the gears stripped on that. So I went down to the pantry and brought up my third backup metal can opener from the dollar store and that didn’t even get through one can!

I had bought my husband a P-38 for his key chain a while back and ended up using that to open the can. The next day I went to the grocery store and bought a “better” can opener for $4, which lasted a week before the gears stripped on that one!

Now imagine being in a crisis situation where those cans of food are absolutely critical and you don’t have the option of just going out and buying another can opener – not good.

So, this last week I bought 10 P-38s at our local Army Surplus/prepper store – Minnesota Joes. Less than 60 cents apiece, these are standard GI issue.

The ex-military guy at the store explained that the name came from the number of turns it took to open a standard C-ration (or was it K?). Anyway, it comes with a handy little hole on the edge to put on a keychain and folds flat. Stick it on the can as shown above, catching the lip of the can in the cut out, and rock it back and forth and the can will open.

The blade can be re-sharpened and is handy in the kitchen to cut bags open with. My only complaint is the size, with my old arthritic hands. BUT it opens the cans with no gears stripping!

Now, if your preps include manual can openers (especially from the dollar store), and you are using an electric can opener because it is easier on the hands, I suggest you actually use your manual can openers and see how they hold up for you. If you become frustrated like I did, the humble P-38 may be an option for you as well.

There is very little worse than having a whole pantry of canned goods and not being able to open any of it except with a metal chisel, hammer and a strong likelihood of injuring yourself.

What If There’s a Natural Gas Leak in Your Neighborhood?

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Here is a real life challenge that I personally experienced and what started me prepping:

There is construction going on in your neighborhood. You are woken up in the middle of the night by a loud bang and the house shakes. Within a few minutes you hear sirens approaching.

Then a loud banging on your door and you are told to evacuate NOW. And asked where the natural gas shut off to your house is.

What do you do?

When this happened, my husband was out of town with our one credit card. I had the grand kids overnight and was going to take them to school in the morning.

I didn’t know where the gas shut off was on the house.

It was so rushed that all I had on was my cotton nightgown, robe and slippers and the kids only had their PJ’s with no footwear. I couldn’t find the cat and the dog just jumped into the car.

I had my purse and a couple of dollars. The checkbook we keep in the office drawer. And only a quarter tank of gas, not enough to get me 120 miles to my sister’s place. I don’t have the keys to my son’s house and they were out of town. And no cell phone as we share one and my husband had it.

I remembered the policeman saying that the community center would probably be opened for evacuees.

I can’t tell you how scared and confused I was, it was like a nightmare. I drove to the community center and waited until the Red Cross came and opened it all the while trying to calm the grand kids.

There was confusion at the community center as they had to turn the heat up to warm it. We sat huddled on chairs with blankets around us when they finally brought them. The whole neighborhood had been evacuated, but only some neighbors were at the center.

Mid-afternoon, still in our night clothes we were allowed to go back home. The grand kids missed school. I had no leash in the car and the dog couldn’t hold it that long, so it was a smelly ride back home and a lot of scrubbing to clean up the car.

Everything turned out fine and they contained the natural gas leak and no one was hurt. But I vowed never to be that unprepared again, so that is why I’m now a prepper.

Okay folks! How would you have fared if that had happened to you last night?

  • Do you know where your natural gas shutoff is on the outside of your home?
  • Do you have adequate gas in your car to reach a safe location?
  • Do you have a bug out bag with extra clothes, cash, and medications (don’t forget about alternative medications like Fish Mox that you can stockpile without a prescription)?
  • What about the grand kids, do you have extras for them if you ever babysit?
  • Do you have pets with provisions for them?